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Why it worked: Inside Storm Woods' touchdown catch for Oregon State Beavers against Portland State

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Oregon State Beavers running back Storm Woods (24) rolls into the end zone to score as the Oregon State Beavers beat the Portland State Vikings, 29-14, in their football season opener at Reser Stadium in Corvallis Saturday.
(Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

Each week, we'll examine a prominent play from Oregon State's most recent game and ask the players involved, simply, why it worked.

Today, it's the third-quarter 23-yard touchdown catch and run by Storm Woods.

Before the play, Woods was lined up to Sean Mannion's right. An outside linebacker came on the blitz, forcing the middle linebacker to slide to his right and drop into coverage. The blitz didn't arrive in time for Mannion's release after the short drop, which then opened up the field for Woods once he got the ball on the inside screen. Right guard Grant Bays made the decisive block on the other outside linebacker to give Woods even more room, while left guard Garrett Weinreich followed downfield just in case.

Woods and Bays describe what they saw on that play:

Woods: "All credit goes to Coach (John) Garrett, first of all. When he first got here, he taught us the most part of the play are the seven seconds where you diagnose it before the play. I saw the (middle linebacker) was (sliding) over to the weak side of the formation, which is where my route (was). In practice, I had been cutting it short all week, so I knew since he was (sliding) over, I could probably go a little extra before cutting it back. So I just took an extra step, boom. Once I knew I had him, I already had a pre-snap read that the safeties were wide. All I had to do was (catch the ball and go straight up the field) and go score."

Bays: "My job is to get the first man outside that's covering. I don't really have to block anyone on the line, I just go out and get the 'backer, and I got the first backer and it sprung. It was pretty nice. It was pretty open. I went straight to the 'backer and I didn't see anyone else. I thought right when I hit that guy, it was gonna hit (for a touchdown), and it did. It was fun. It was a nice play."